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Mental Health Awareness

"He is on a waiting list for a council hostel in Howell Road which has a zero tolerance for drugs but at the moment he is free to do what he likes and I cannot be there 14/7 because I have got to work," he added.

"Luckily the council have stepped in to help him but now I am trying to juggle work and looking after him."

Mental health officials said they could not comment on the individual case.

However, a spokesman for Devon Partnership NHS Trust said: "It is important that people with both physical and mental health needs - and addiction issues - receive all of the support that they need in hospital, especially in an emergency situation.

"Our liaison psychiatry teams provide an invaluable service, working 24/7 alongside their hospital colleagues at the major acute hospitals in Devon, providing assessment and treatment for people with a range of mental health needs.

"Our inpatient wards have robust systems and processes in place to assess people's needs and to establish whether or not an admission to hospital is the safe and appropriate course of action.

"Where hospital admission is inappropriate, we signpost people and their families to other services that may be able to provide support."